Texting while walking down the street can be dangerous - traffic, lamp posts and even pot holes can lead to accidents.

But for one California man the danger was even bigger.

TV helicopter crews in California managed to capture an oblivious phone user walking into the path of a 500lb black bear.

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Watch out! A bear begins to wander into a California neighbourhood The homeowner calmly walks towards the giant animal, engrossed in his mobile. However, just feet before he reaches it, he notices the huge bear - and turns and runs in the nick of time.

Residents of La Crescenta, California, were warned to be on the lookout for the bear, which was only finally contained in a back garden this morning.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies received a call of a bear sighting at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday in the 2800 block of Manhattan Avenue, KTLA-TV reported.

Unnoticed: A man who is texting is completely unaware that he is walking into the path of a bear

Scared: The man jolts back and runs back to where he came from when he finally notices the bear

'We did locate about a 500, 600-pound bear in this immediate area,' Sgt Slater said.

'He's been wandering through the residential area for the last several hours.'

'Department of Fish and Game is en route,' Slater said. 'They have ultimate responsibility over it. Our role right now is if the bear is docile and just hunkering down, we'll let him continue that until Fish and Game gets here.'

A police helicopter has been tracking the bear, which is believed to be the same animal that broke into a garage and pried open a refrigerator to snack on some frozen meatballs last month.